


Do Monsters Have Instincts?

by ArgentDandelion



Category: Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: Analysis, Gen, Nonfiction, monster instincts
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-22
Updated: 2019-07-22
Packaged: 2020-07-10 14:46:52
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 972
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19907452
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ArgentDandelion/pseuds/ArgentDandelion
Summary: Talks about whether Undertale's monsters have instincts, how an instinct is defined, and the most likely candidate for instincts held by all monsters.





	Do Monsters Have Instincts?

In some works, _Undertale_ ’s monsters are described as having certain instincts, often those related to breeding.

At first glance, the idea monsters have instincts seems reasonable.The Canine Unit’s behavior resembles instinctive dog behavior: growling at threats or chasing thrown sticks (indicative of a strong chasing/prey drive instinct) for example. However, that’s just for dog monsters; do monsters as a whole have instincts?

First, one should know the definition of instinct:

> “The book Instinct (1961) established a number of criteria which distinguish instinctual from other kinds of behavior. To be considered instinctual, a behavior must follow these criteria: a) be automatic, b) be irresistible, c) occur at some point in development, d) be triggered by some event in the environment, e) occur in every member of the species, f) be unmodifiable, and g) govern behavior for which the organism needs no training (although the organism may profit from experience and to that degree the behavior is modifiable).” -https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Instinct

##  **Do Monsters Have Behaviors that Match the Definition?**

Monsters differ in their behavior, obviously, but it’s hard to tell whether any behaviors are instinctive or true of monsters as a whole. However, there’s one strong candidate for an instinctive behavior: emitting magical bullets.

This candidate doesn’t match all the requirements of the above definition, but it does meet most of them. That all encounter-able monsters[1](https://argentdandelion.tumblr.com/post/182042292213/do-monsters-have-instincts#fn:1) emit bullets at Frisk might mean it’s irresistible. All encountered monsters use magic, so, obviously, it must have occurred at some point in development. If one defines monsterkind as a single “species”[2](https://argentdandelion.tumblr.com/post/182042292213/do-monsters-have-instincts#fn:2), it probably occurs in every member of the species.[3](https://argentdandelion.tumblr.com/post/182042292213/do-monsters-have-instincts#fn:3)

For **a)** , **b)** , and **d)** , the fact Papyrus’s bullet patterns changes to [a particular one](http://zarla-s.tumblr.com/post/132713136209/tragic-detail-of-the-day-i-posted-before-about) when he’s thinking about Sans may count as proving the point. It may also count as an example of **f)** , for, although magical self-expression can clearly be controlled, this bullet pattern behavior seems involuntary of subconsciously controlled.

**f)** and **g)** are trickiest to match up; there’s no information on whether monsters automatically become able to use magic on maturation (like birds “learning” how to fly) or must be given formal instruction.  
It’s known Asgore taught Undyne how to fight, and Undyne in turn gives Papyrus combat lessons. Yet, this might not be teaching on use of magic in itself, but how to use magic in a combat scenario. (Learning how to walk is more or less instinctive; modifying that behavior into a military march isn’t.)

If one goes by the alternate Wikipedia definition, though, this is much easier to answer:

> “Instinct or innate behavior is the inherent inclination of a living organism towards a particular complex behavior”.

Monsters do seem inherently inclined to emit magical bullets. Often, people are inherently inclined to do things that are pleasurable, such as eating tasty food. 

A book in Snowdin’s library suggests self-expression via magical bullet patterns makes monsters happy, and often animals are happiest when they can engage in instinctive, natural behaviors, such as searching for food.[4](https://argentdandelion.tumblr.com/post/182042292213/do-monsters-have-instincts#fn:A) Emission of magical bullets is certainly a “particular complex behavior”: monsters have multiple bullet patterns, sometimes an individual pattern is complex, and these patterns can be mixed together in battle.

##  **Do Humans Have Instincts?**

In a way, monsters’ bullet patterns parallel language, and it’s often argued people pick up a language instinctively. After all, babies acquire a language from surrounding people with no special teaching. A hearing baby raised by deaf parents will even “babble” in sign language. Emotional self-expression, in humans, seems instinctive: even blind babies who have never seen a smile do so.

Humans’ behavior is very malleable; they have few outright instincts. For humans, most of their instincts relate to their social nature. They naturally* cooperate, follow gazes, read emotions, and mimic body languages (if subconsciously), though to what extent they do these things varies simply because human behavior is so variable.

##  **Human and Monster Instinct Overlap**

Monsters’ society is very similar to human societies, through traits such as building homes, liking artwork, wearing clothes, having jobs, reading, using tools, and a symbolic economy (“G” is presumably gold coins). (Admittedly, not every human society does all these things, but they all do several of those.) This surely means their psychology is broadly like a human one, and surely packed with similar social instincts.

Incidentally, monsters might mimic human behavior even if the original context or purpose of those instincts are different. For example, Boss Monsters look something between a goat and a lion, so in some works their behaviors are similar to goats, lions, or a mixture of the two. If Asriel, due to goatlike/lionlike instincts, seeks out physical proximity with Chara, Chara probably wouldn’t think anything strange of it, because some humans also enjoy physical proximity with others: it’s a reasonable byproduct of being a social species.

In conclusion, monsters probably do have instincts, but for the most part their instincts seem to be the same as (or equivalent to) human instincts, so it’s no big deal.

–

* * *

  1. Except Monster Kid. Monster Kid is very scared at this point, though, so it could be argued Monster Kid is paralyzed with fear. Potentially, one instinct could be interfering with another. [↩︎](https://argentdandelion.tumblr.com/post/182042292213/do-monsters-have-instincts#fnref:1)

  2. Interpreting Gerson’s use of the word “breed” literally to suggest individual monster types are like dog breeds, not distinct species. [↩︎](https://argentdandelion.tumblr.com/post/182042292213/do-monsters-have-instincts#fnref:2)

  3. So Sorry seems to depend on a magical pencil for magical self-expression. Alphys indisputably emits her own bullet patterns only once, and briefly. In the Lost SOUL battle, she uses Mettaton’s attacks. It makes me wonder whether monsters can be born with or acquire problems that interfere with magical self-expression; dogs might naturally chase small animals but a dog born with limb deformities would have trouble chasing anything. [↩︎](https://argentdandelion.tumblr.com/post/182042292213/do-monsters-have-instincts#fnref:3)

  4. The comic _The Anomaly_ [seems to go](http://anomalouscomic.tumblr.com/post/173557242215/when-you-think-about-it-the-transition-to-the) with this: monsters enjoy using magic. [↩︎](https://argentdandelion.tumblr.com/post/182042292213/do-monsters-have-instincts#fnref:A)




**Author's Note:**

> Originally posted on January 15, 2019.


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